Impact of crop rotation and tillage operations on mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and evaluation of sustainability index in rice- wheat-green gram cropping system of north Bihar.

In North Bihar (NB), the conventional rice-wheat cropping system has led to soil, water, and environmental degradation, alongside low profitability, threatening sustainability. To address these concerns, a thorough field research was conducted over the course of three years to assess different methods of tillage and crop establishment in a rice, wheat, and greengram cycle. The experiment involved five scenarios with different combinations of crop rotation, tillage techniques, seeding procedures, fertilizer use, and irrigation strategies. Uncertainty analysis showed no significant change in mean and variance estimation among seven scenario replications at 5% significance level. Compared to traditional farming (SN-1), managing DSR-rice (SN-5) increased profitability by 17.56%, improved energy use efficiency (EUE) by 32.16%, and reduced irrigation by 24.76% and global warming potential (GWP) by 23.46%. Similarly, substituting zero tillage wheat (ZTW) SN-5 resulted in comparable profitability gains (18.25%) and significant improvements in irrigation (10 %), EUE (+48.65%), and GWP (-20 %) compared to SN-1. Green gram ZT also showed increased profitability (17.35%), with notable improvements in EUE (+38.31%) and GWP (-12.92%) compared to SN-1. Principal component and correlation analyses revealed relationships between total energy inputs, yields, economic returns, and sustainability indices, highlighting the benefits of crop rotation and tillage practices in optimizing resource use. The study suggests that compared to conventional systems, significant improvements in productivity, profitability, energy-use efficiency, and environmental mitigation can be achieved with Crop Rotation and Tillage Operations techniques.

Farming practices and genetic characterization of Nicobari pig, an indigenous pig germplasm of Nicobar group of islands, India.

The Nicobari pig, locally known as Ha-un, is an indigenous pig germplasm located only in the Nicobar group of islands, India. The present study documents the Nicobari pig-rearing practices of the tribal farmers and genetically characterizes them using 23 FAO-recommended microsatellite markers. The study was conducted over a period of 3 years (2010-2012) in Car Nicobar, India. A total of 225 farmers were surveyed (15 farmers per village of 15 villages). Information on herd statistics, husbandry practices, and constraints faced by the farmers in pig production were collected. The pigs were reared in a free-range system. Mean pig herd size per house hold was 8.9, and main feed for pigs was coconut and some indigenous feed materials such as pandanus, bread fruit, and Nicobari alu. The main constraints faced by the farmers were lack of feed after the tsunami, different disease conditions, piglet mortality, and predator attack. The Nicobari pigs were genotyped by 23 FAO-recommended microsatellite markers. The mean observed number of alleles for all 23 loci in Nicobari pigs was 6.96 ± 0.31. The mean observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.66 ± 0.02 and 0.75 ± 0.01, respectively. It was found that the genetic diversity of this pig breed was very high compared to Large White Yorkshire and other European pig breeds. This genetic characterization of the pig breed will be helpful in their conservation effort.